Ford Motor Company is doubling the production capacity of its Cologne, Germany, engine plant to produce more than 1,000 units per day of the 1.0-L EcoBoost engine to meet growing European demand.

In the first eight months of 2013, models equipped with 1.0-liter EcoBoost engines accounted for a growing share of overall sales. The B-MAX compact multi-activity vehicle led the way, with 44% of all vehicles ordered across Ford’s 19 traditional European markets specified with the 1.0-liter EcoBoost, along with 32% of Focus cars sold; 26% of Fiesta cars; and 24% of C-MAX and Grand C-MAX multi-activity vehicles.

The company added a second shift to meet demand for the engine. This will increase projected production capacity for 2013 to 165,000 engines from 100,000 engines, and to 200,000 engines in 2014—equating to an increase in total European production capacity of 62%.

Ford of Europe has previously announced plans to triple annual production of vehicles equipped with fuel-efficient EcoBoost petrol engines to approximately 480,000 by 2015, from 141,000 in 2011.

Ford in Europe recently announced a new version of the Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost that will be the first non-hybrid gasoline-powered family car in Europe to offer 99 g/km CO2 emissions. (Earlier post.) It will be available early next year.

The 1.0-liter EcoBoost range also will be offered in future models to include the Transit Connect, Transit Courier, Tourneo Connect, Tourneo Courier, New Mondeo and EcoSport. The engine also is being launched in Ford vehicles around the world, most recently in India and China with the Ford EcoSport, and later this year in North America in the Ford Fiesta.

Designed at Ford’s research and development centres in Aachen and Merkenich, Germany, and Dunton, U.K., the 1.0-liter EcoBoost is also built in Ford’s Craiova, Romania, engine plant. Both Cologne and Craiova plants were upgraded to facilitate 1.0-liter EcoBoost production and introduced advanced manufacturing techniques that reduce the volume of coolant required when machining aluminium engine parts to just five milliliters per component from two liters previously, contributing to a reduced environmental footprint from manufacturing.

New “cold testing” technology was also introduced, allowing engines to be tested without being started—reducing fuel usage and CO2 emissions from the process by 66%. All remaining energy required to run the Cologne plant comes from renewable sources, including three hydro-power plants in Norway and Sweden.

Comments

"All remaining energy required to run the Cologne plant comes from renewable sources, including three hydro-power plants in Norway and Sweden."

This is pure drivel, and in fact impossible. All it signifies is that the Köln plant may be connected to an electrical grid that at some point uses hydropower from Scandinavia. It is in no way possible that a factory in Köln is using THAT electricity. In fact, all the electrical potential in lines run directly from Scandinavia to Köln would be used up in transmission losses. Let's keep the articles on this site accurate!